


Where The Universe Pushes Back

by PaperbackGarden



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Character Undeath, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Long, Original Character(s), Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2020-07-08 06:22:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19864948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaperbackGarden/pseuds/PaperbackGarden
Summary: With the star known as Wolf 359 long behind them, the remaining crew of The Hephaestus returns home with hope for long awaited peace and reunions. Unfortunately, their battle is not quite over yet. With the deaths of their leaders and no instructions on how to continue, the people left at Goddard Futuristics scramble to fill the power vacuum left behind by Cutter, Rachel, and the now "out of service" Dr. Pryce. Those who take charge are not keen on losing it, particularly to a broken crew set on taking Goddard down once and for all.Limits were tested in space, but Earth is a new playing field. One where problems cannot be solved by having our AI flood a room with gas or by pushing someone out of an airlock. On Earth, the rules are not made by whoever is holding the gun, and your loved ones are available targets for someone looking to send a message.And somewhere deep in space, something moves.





	1. Through New Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> A Wolf 359 fic in the year of our lord 2019 because idk how to escape my favorite podcast. This boy is going to be looong, but it's one I've been planning a while. 
> 
> Goddard Futuristics, known for pushing the limits of the universe.  
> And to quote our boy Doug Eiffel: "Well this is where the universe pushes back"

"Deep Space Survival Tip Number 1: Always read the instructions before operating any piece of machinery. Deviating from this might result in the loss of valuable equipment, which could lead to heavy fines or death."  
On first glance, the tip made sense, but Doug was not too fond of the implication that losing valuable equipment was what led to death. It made it sound like the higher-ups used murder as a disciplinary tactic. Hell, based on what Renée had said, they probably did.

"Deep Space Survival Tip Number Two: begin every day with a few minutes of exercise. Isometric exercises are no harder to do in zero gravity than they are on Earth and just as rewarding."  
Okay, Doug might not know much, but he knew he hated when Renée made him exercise every day. She demanded it in that half harsh, half concerned way of hers, and Lovelace offering to work out with him only made it worse. 

"Deep Space Survival Tip Number Three: Spacewalks are a serious matter. They are very delicate operations filled with hazards, so only use them as a source of amusement if you are really bored."  
He could never get a hang on whether or not this book actually cared about its rules, and if it did, Lovelace was either a serial breaker of the rules or constantly very bored. Frankly, it could be either. Doug had not quite figured the captain out yet. 

“Deep Space Survival Tip Number Four: Conserve your oxygen. Even in environments with an air recycling system, oxygen can be limited, so keep your breathing at a slow, steady pace. Remain calm. Failing to remain calm, could result in your grisly, gruesome death, so whatever you do, do not panic. Panicking will only serve to accelerate your oxygen consumption and make your already likely demise a certainty. If you want to avoid dying, painfully, alone, in the cold darkness of space, gasping desperately as freezing oblivion silences your pathetic hopes and dreams... relax."  
Damn. 

“Deep Space Survival Tip Number Five: Remain positive at all times. Maintain a cheerful attitude even in the face adversity. Remember: when you are smiling the whole world smiles with you, but when you're crying you're in violation of fleet-wide morale codes and should report to your superior officer for disciplinary action." 

"That has to be a joke." The woman Doug was reading to said, mouth slightly agape. She could not read it for herself, her mechanical eyes having short circuited not long after they got on the ship, so in their mutual effort to gain some kind of footing in a world neither of them remembered, Doug was reading Pryce and Carter's out loud. 

"It actually says that." He assured Miranda, who just shook her head in shock. 

"Nope. Past me, no matter how apparently evil, put that in there to be funny. That's the only explanation." 

Before Doug could respond, the door to the room they were in opened up, revealing Commander Renée Minkowski. She had asked him to call her Renée, and he did, but for some reason his mouth always wanted to form any other part of her name instead. She took in the sight before her, eyes eventually resting on the book in his hands. 

"What are you reading?" She asked, clearly knowing the answer despite the tone of disbelief in her voice. 

"Pryce and Carter's Deep Space Survival Procedure and Protocol Manual." He said, holding up the book to show her. "D.S.S.P.P.M for barely shorter. Miranda and I made a deal that we have to get through this first before watching Home Alone 2 together." Doug had explained to Renée before that he and Miranda were trying to equip themselves for a return to Earth, but she always seemed put off to enter a room and find the two of them hard at work, often side by side. 

"Well, stay on that then. I was just coming in to tell you the crew is having a meeting if you need us... and to make sure you were doing okay." 

"Doing a little better each day, Renée. Do you need us to come to the crew meeting?" 

Renée was already shaking her head. "No, Doug, you and Miranda can stay here. Keep working and I'll tell you what we come up with about our return to Earth." 

Return implies having been there before, and Doug definitely did not feel like he had. He knew, at one point, he lived on Earth. He understood that most of his life had been spent there. Still, all his memories were of space, expansive, never ending, and feeling more like home then a planet he no longer knew. Still, he just said "Alright. Tell us if you need anything!" and let her leave. 

Once Renée was gone, Miranda let out a breath she had been holding. "She won't even look at me, will she?"

"Give her time." Doug assured her "Give them all time. They're not used to you being... you. They're used to the old Miranda Pryce. And for the record, she glanced at you when she said your name and didn't look viscerally upset! That's an improvement!" 

Miranda did not see very comforted, sighing with her head hung slightly. "It's fine, Doug. I don't blame them. I know what they see when they look at me. They see the person who terrorized them and tortured Hera. More than anything, when we're together? They see the person who killed their hero." 

"I was hardly a hero." Doug argued, but Miranda argued back "You sacrificed yourself for them, you are a hero." 

"And you're a person. When we get to Earth, we'll both be able to go somewhere where that is all anyone sees." He was quoting something Lovelace had said, but Miranda did not need to know that. 

After making it through half of the deep space survival manual, the two agreed to take a break. As usual, as Doug wandered the halls of the Urania, something felt very wrong. The ship's hallways never felt right, and he got lost easy not because he had no idea where he was going, but because he thought he did. Hera said it was probably muscle memory from the layout of the Hephaestus, and that she sometimes got rooms switched around for the same reason. He appreciated Hera's help, but frankly the muscle memory thing was upsetting. It was as if every part of him remembered who had once been except for his brain. His feet carried him down halls as if he were on a space station he could barely picture. His mouth began to form words he did not recognize out of a habit of referencing things he no longer knew. He hated the cold and being alone, though why he had to learn secondhand. 

He passed by the room where the rest of the crew were having their meeting. He could here them arguing about what to do when they get back home, and though the voices were muffled behind the door, he thought Jacobi was the one talking now. Doug tried not be bitter, but after listening to logs and hearing stories from others, he knew it was strange to have the former SI-5 agent more part of the team then him. He wanted to be in that room, helping them plan, but there was not much he could offer. He just missed being a part of the team, even if he did not remember what it had felt like. 

He continued to wander, leaving the consipricing crew behind him. He would become part of the team again with time, or maybe he could make his own. Before any of that could happen, though, they had to make it back to Earth. 

Everything would change when they made it back to Earth.

-+-+-+-

As Minkowski entered the meeting, she was met by the stares of her somehow even smaller than normal crew. The last time she only had two sets of eyes looking to her, she thought she was on a normal space station with a scientist she trusted and a communications officer she wished would go away. The thought caused her heart to jump to her throat, but she fought it down to face the people waiting on her command. 

"So, Commander. What's our return plan?" Hera asked.

Minkowski walked up to their table, placing her hands on it to lean towards the human crew. "Our arrival on Earth is going to set of a ticking time bomb, and none of us know the threat that awaits us at zero. It goes without saying Goddard won't be happy-" 

"Yeah no shit." Jacobi interrupted. 

"-but we've handled their worst, so we can handle this. Plus, we're not alone now." She found herself smiling as she delivered her plan, "My husband works for a high end newspaper company. We get him our story, we get the story of what Goddard did out into the world. No espionage or castle storming required. Just good old fashioned reputation destruction and court cases." 

Lovelace nodded "That's certainly a plan, and one that allows us to do the most from the safest locations. There is just one problem: the Urania. Wherever it is, Goddard will be able to find it. We will have to abandon the ship, which leaves the question of what to do with Hera." 

"Thank you, Captain." Hera said "I was just beginning to worry about that myself. My brain is the size of a house." 

There was a silence as they sat in that, trying to come up with a solution. Minkowski tapped her fingers against the table in thought, guilty that she had not considered this before, but already forming a plan that might just work. "Where are AI made and kept before deployment?" She asked. 

"Special facilities all over the world. Why would we- ooooh." Hera said. 

Bingo." Minkowski said, tapping her hand against the table one last time and leaving it there. "We land the ship somewhere with an AI facility and 'borrow' their technology for a while. Then we can go see our loved ones. You get your break while I tell Dominik our story. The only flaw is leaving Hera alone, because I need to stay with Dominik until the story gets published. We can both come here after that, but I have no idea how long it will take." 

"I can stay with her. Keep an eye on Pryce too." Jacobi offered. 

"I can't ask that of you. You deserve to go see your family. I can hold my own until Minkowski returns." Hera argued. 

"Real honorable of you, but I don't have anyone to see." Jacobi said, keeping his tone casual "The ones that mattered died in space. I'm fine letting the rest think I had the same fate." 

"What about taking a break?" Minkowski questioned. That got a laugh. 

"I haven't had a vacation since... well since Kepler hired me. Taking a break isn't exactly in the SI-5 dictionary, and I like it that way." 

"So we have a plan." Lovelace said "It accounts for everyone accept for Eiffel." 

"Eiffel stays with me." Minkowski said, leaving no room for argument. She knew they had comments on that, but she had made it clear she was not up for argument when it came to Eiffel. She was going to keep him safe, by any means necessary. That meant keeping him where she could protect him. 

"You can't baby him forever, Minkowski." Lovelace said softly. 

"No, but I can keep him from getting hurt until he's on his feet again." and then some. Nothing bad was ever going to happen to Douglas Eiffel again. He had given too much already. Minkowski sighed and turned her attention back to the plan "This might just work. Hopefully, our story going public will be enough to close Goddard Futuristic's doors forever." 

"And if it's not?" Hera asked. 

"Then we take care of this the old fashioned way. The way we do best." She shot her crew a grin "Guns blazing, no surrender until we win."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew touches down on Earth.

Hera was going to miss the Urania. Of course the only option was to transfer upon arrival to Earth, but the Urania was a solid piece of work and she finally had the mental processing clarity to appreciate it. 

The almost-sorta-operational abandoned AI research building they had settled on as their new headquarters was not something to look forward to. It would be containing and restrictive, and though it would only be a short time, Jacobi and an amnesiac Miranda Pryce were hardly company. 

She missed Eiffel. They could talk about absolutely nothing together for hours. It had been nice. Sure, he was still there. He walked like Eiffel, he sat awkwardly in a chair like Eiffel, and his voice sounded like Eiffel’s, but he did not talk like Eiffel. He did not annoy and bother and pester like Eiffel. He did not declare his opinions or facts like Eiffel and more importantly than anything else he did not remember her like Eiffel. 

And it was all her fault. 

“Hera, can you hear me?” 

“Always, Doug. What is it you need?” She answered. Unlike a human, it did not pull her out of her thoughts to speak to him. Split consciousness. 

“Can you remind me where the kitchen is? I think I took a wrong turn.” 

Turning left from sleeping quarters makes sense on the Hephaestus, but not the Urania. She wondered if he knew he was walking the steps of the old beat up station or not. 

“You turned the wrong way from your room, if you turn right here, you should be able to find your way.” 

“Thanks Hera.” He sounded so grateful, as if her telling him where to go was some great feat of kindness and not the easiest part of her job. It was nice to be appreciated, but his lack of understanding was another reminder that her friend was changed forever. 

_“It’s not like I ever really understood how much you could do.”_

“I know.” She told him, still instructing the real, present Eiffel towards the kitchen. “But this is different. You’re different.” 

_“Am I? I started the conversation with ‘Hera, can you hear me?’ That seems fairly on brand, if I do say so myself.”_

“You don’t. You are not here.” 

_“I may not be, but he is. New and improved: Doug but this time without the Eiffel. Are you a fan of the original but find endless chatter, pointless references, and completely unwarranted confidence annoying? Call 1-800-FREAKYCHAIR today for an upgrade on the old model.”_

“The sequel is never as good as the original movie. You should know that.” 

_“There are exceptions. I’m more of a Star Trek situation.”_

Hera pushed the thoughts away. Sure, this Eiffel was nicer, quieter, and more mature somehow, but none of that made him a better version. Not in the slightest. 

“Hera.” Lovelace’s voice said from the control room “How far out are we from landing?” 

“About an hour, Captain.” Hera said, then took the liberty to inform the rest of the crew throughout the ship. The commander simply nodded, as ready as she would ever be. Jacobi finished packing his things, the SI-5 ID he used to wear left on the dresser. Eiffel finished his water in the kitchen and started towards the others. Miranda Pryce, (She found it hard to just call her ‘Miranda’) tensed visibly. She must not feel ready to return. Hera tried not to find a spiteful joy in that. 

Hera was not sure if she was ready either, but when was the last time she felt ready for anything? Regardless of lost or changed friends, she knew that this crew could do anything. 

\+ + 

The words flashed across the screen: ENTERING ATMOSPHERE IN 6 SECONDS. 

5 SECONDS 

4 SECONDS 

3 SECONDS 

2 SECONDS 

Lovelace caught her breath. It was time to go home. 

1 SECONDS

The ship shook upon entry, but the crew sat safe in their seats. Flames lapped at the outside of the ship, but the Urania withstood it to land, thanks to Hera, safely at the docking bay. For a moment, everything was quiet. The faces of the crew reflected Lovelace’s own feelings. They were home, finally, on Earth. She wanted to cry at the thought of being back, after years of certainty that she would never make it. Unfortunately, there was no time to cry, because the second they opened the door to the ship, it was time to fight again. They had to get Hera out and transferred, preferably without Goddard knowing. Further, there were questions to both dodge and answer about what had happened above. 

Lovelace tried to ignore feeling like she had jumped out of the pan and into the fire. Instead, focusing on what would come after. A place far away, where no one would know who she was, or who she was supposed to be. 

“Are you ready?” Minkowski said. 

No. None of them were. “Let’s do this.” 

Two amnesiacs, an AI, a demolition expert, and two badass women walk off a spaceship. It sounded like the star of a very bad joke. They looked like one too. With Miranda and Doug struggling to understand gravity, both Jacobi and Minkowski recovering from injuries, and Hera not actually capable of walking, it was more of a pained hobble. 

A man stood at the entrance of the ship, holding a clipboard. Whatever he had planned to say died on his lips at the sight of them all. They all just stared back. 

“Welcome home.” The man said finally, sounding uncertain. Lovelace strode past him. “Hey wait. Where are you-” 

She walked past him off the landing pad to the grass, and laid down on her back. The blue sky shone overhead with light white clouds and a sun too bright to look at. Bright and far far away. 

“Minkowski, you’re going to want to come see this.” Her voice cracked as she said it. A moment later, the commander had fallen into the grass beside her, just as in awe. 

The man with the clipboard shuffled nervously “Excuse me? Can I ask-” 

With a sarcastic “to hell with it” Jacobi followed them onto the grass. Eiffel was not far behind him, and Miranda trailed along after. As she did, the man’s gaze followed her. Grass tickles the back of Lovelace’s neck. The breeze cooled her face. If anyone asked, it was the sun making her eyes water. 

Clipboard man stepped towards them to say something. Lovelace spoke. “Just let us have this for a second.” 

“Well Ma’am I really need your-” 

“Please shut up.” Miranda said softly, running her hands along the grass. His mouth snapped shut, and Lovelace took a breath of fresh air. She was on Earth. She was home. 

They finally had to talk to the man with the clipboard. There was paperwork to dock the Urania, and even more to request an official transfer of an AI. Luckily, despite the man’s clear confusion and questions, he fell silent from arguing whenever his eyes fell on Miranda Pryce. Lovelace was suddenly certain that the decision to keep the events of space to themselves, because Goddard and their lower branches all knew not to give them any trouble. Miranda was making herself useful. 

“We need to transfer Hera, the ship’s AI, to the western facility.” Minkowski said. 

“Why? The place needs some upkeep before it is fit for-” He trailed off when Jacobi looked pointedly from the man to Miranda, then back again. 

“Right away. We’ll have her transferred immediately.” 

It was not immediate, of course. They had to prepare the facility for Hera, so the first split of the team began. Minkowski stayed with Hera and the ship while the rest of the team made their way to prepare their new base of operations. Doug and Miranda were set to cleaning and easy prep work while Lovelace and Jacobi took care of the tech. 

“Never thought I’d be wishing for the good ol Dr. Pryce back.” Jacobi said, staring down a large tangle of wires, some of which had been chewed through by mice. 

“Between my general competency and your second hand knowledge, I’m sure we can get this fixed enough to move Hera in. She can instruct us from there.” 

“Or we’ll fry her to a crisp upon entry.” Jacobi said with a shrug, but he was pulling out and replacing damaged wires already. Lovelace opted to ignore the comment. 

They worked in silence for a while, but eventually both grew bored of that and settled for wisecracking at the other’s expense. It made the work go by faster, and both were ready to move on. That was probably why they settled on discussing where Lovelace would venture to next. 

“I suggest Ohio.” Jacobi said “Peak vacation point.” 

“The aliens might kill us all on the spot if I show them Ohio.” Lovelace pointed out. Might as well get used to being a walking camera for an alien race. 

“Maybe introduce them to rap. Then they’ll really blow us all up.” 

“Rap isn’t that- Jacobi that’s the wrong wire.” 

“No it’s not.” He said, but upon closer glance scowled. “No. Wait. You’re right.”

“Of course I am. You want to use the red one. How could you miss that?” 

“I don’t know if you noticed this, Maxwell, but I- dammit.” He dropped his wire in annoyance with the realization of what he had said.

Lovelace paused, tools in hand, to glance at him. He pointedly did not look back. 

“Let’s pretend that never happened, okay?” She said. 

“Glady.” He answered, going back to work. She did too, and they operated in silence from there out. She wanted to ask about Maxwell, ask how he was doing, but Lovelace was not his crew. His crew had all died in space, on the Hephaestus, and now he was stuck with these near-strangers. 

She understood how that felt all too well. It was best not to push.


	3. Chapter 3

"How you doing, Hera?" 

The lights on the screen in front of Minkowski flickered as they worked over-time to accommodate for the advanced AI. 

"Well, Commander, I have been removed from an expansive high quality modern spaceship and shoved far too quickly into a computational shoebox, so I'm feeling the tiniest bit cramped." 

"We'll see what we can do to get you more processing power. This isn't great, but it's not permanent. Keep that in mind. The only reason we are here is because it is our only option." Frankly, she could not wait to leave. Dominik was out there, not knowing she was alive. For all her love of Hera, this felt time consuming. 

Hera sighed and the screen flickered again. "I understand this is it, but it's not just processing power! There is nothing to do. On a station I have to regulate oxygen, heat, power distribution, navigations, and have three conversations with people on different ends of the ship at once. Right now, all I can do is exist. Think and sometimes speak, but thanks to systems from the dark ages, I can only hold one conversation at a time. My vision quality is terrible and I'm fairly sure there is only one camera in each room for me to use anyways. I don't even have heat sensors!" 

"It's the best we can do." The commander repeated, tone unchanging. 

"I know I just..." the screen lit up strangely bright for a second "... can you listen to me complain a little, before you go? It been a while since we could antagonize over trivial things together." 

Minkowski found herself smiling, remembering the days when she and Hera could just complain about the boys while fixing the latest mess, neither knowing that the lights turning off randomly in the engine room would be the least of their concerns in under a year. She had time before the final meeting with the crew. 

"Sure, Hera. I think I'd like that too." 

They talked and complained about nothing for the half hour it took for the others to arrive for the meeting. It was nice, to be allowed to focus on the more petty things for once. There were issues and points neither of them said. How they missed Eiffel, the fact that they both knew more hardship was to come. That was not the point. 

"The water from every sink comes out like a torpedo and splashes everywhere." 

"Let me try to adjust the water pressure for you Commander- Oh. That's right. I can't." 

They actually found themselves laughing by the time the others arrived for the meeting. The conversation and solidarity it brought with it died as they turned their attention to the task at hand. The crew already knew the plan, so the meeting could be short, allowing Minkowski to get on the road sooner. 

And see her husband. The thought made her chest feel like it was compressing. 

They split up into their new teams. Minkowski and Eiffel were to go to Dominik. They'd keep their heads low, tell him the story, and run a smear campaign about Goddard through his connections in journalism. Lovelace would go reconnect with her own family and friends, then get out of dodge. She would spend a good amount of her spare time looking into new places for Hera. Miranda, Jacobi, and Hera would stay behind. Jacobi, the only one of them not legally dead and with memories of his life, withdrew money and got each team a burner phone. They agreed to only call in case of emergency, and to meet back at the warehouse in a month. Hopefully by then they would have protection, money, their loved ones, and a better place for Hera. 

"Are we ready?" Minkowski asked. To her surprise, Eiffel spoke up. 

"It doesn't sound like that's mattered before." He said. 

"How quickly they learn." Lovelace said with a bittersweet smile "Let's knock 'em dead, kids."

+++

Jacobi was never one for waiting around the house. After six years of explosions, late nights, and being told at four am that he needed to get on a plane to Brazil within the next hour, having nothing to do was worse than torture. He found himself talking to Hera fairly often. Finding ways to make her life a little easier became quick busywork with clear output, even if fixing computers by the instruction of someone much smarter than him here, mostly alone, made something in his chest feel tight. 

God he needed to get out. 

Within a week he was crafting up a fake identity for Miranda. It had been a while since he made a full alias. Generally that fell to the lower ranked operatives while the specialists did their jobs. Not that he had a job to do. Would Miranda ever forgive him if he gave her a stupid name? Did he care? Frankly, she nowhere near his superior anymore, and even more frankly, her asinine, evil, corrupt plan got his friends killed so- 

"What are you working on?" 

There was the demon herself, standing in the doorway. 

"Making you an identity so we can get you in some blind people lessons." He explained, not looking up. 

"Oh. Okay." She idled in the doorway. He glanced up again. 

"Yes?" 

"Isn't that... well I've been talking to Hera about Earth and that sounds illegal." 

"Wow. Who would have thought." He deadpanned, then tried to turn back to his work, but she walked closer, coming to sit across from him. 

"What was Goddard like?" She asked. It caught him off guard, but he quickly regained disinterest. 

"Evil. Corrupt. Pretty murdery-"

"No, I mean, what was it like to be a part of? The others always say the same thing. That the company is the bad guy. But we both worked there. So many people still work there. If it's so bad, then why? I know you don't like me, but I want to understand."

He thought about it for a minute, tapping his fingers against against the table, before pushing back from the work "Screw it, sure. Why the hell not." He propped his legs up on the table "Goddard was the second best thing that ever happened to me. My boss picked me up off the side of the road and set me back on my feet. And damn, once you're in, you better hit the ground running. It's a power trip, being around all those important people who make sure you know you're only put up with because you're important too. There is no room for error in anything, but that's because they genuinely believe in you so much, they think you're incapable of messing up. People come from all over to be that person, to prove they are that person. Most would kill for it." 

"...And?" 

"And they do. Because the smart important people told them to. They always say it's for the bi- er- greater good, but really it's all about stroking your ego. It's great to be part of something so much bigger than you, but still feel like you take up a large part of it. If you have to blow up a few hospitals along the way, so be it. It's genius, really. They only hire people who need them. It's mutually beneficial. The operative gets a fresh start, given everything they could ever want, and in return Goddard gets to take someone and make them out of nothing. Turn them into anything they want. I don't see why the content, selfish, brainwashed, grateful chump could ever want more." 

Miranda was quiet for a second, thinking on this. Finally, she spoke. "What was the first thing?" 

"What?" He asked. 

"You said Goddard was the second best thing to ever happen to you. What was the first?" 

"Leaving." 

"Becoming one of the good guys?" 

He laughed "No, teaming up with the good guys. There's a difference. For example..." he gestured back to his computer "How rich do you want your new identity to be?" 

She frowned "How can you just give me money?"

"I have my ways. Goddard teaches you a lot when they're turning you into their perfect little advancement machine." 

"How rich was Dr. Pryce." 

"What's the richest you can think of?" 

Miranda nodded once "Just enough to get by please. I'm done being her. I'm done being Goddard." 

"Easier said than done." he stated. 

"I don't really have a choice, do i?" 

"No, you don't. It's what makes us both trustworthy allies. We have nowhere else to go." He turned his attention to his computer screen and sighed. "What do you want your fake name to be?"


End file.
